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Toronto Maple Leafs: A Half season in Review (So Far So Good)

By Michael Da Ponte

Jan 7, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman TJ Brodie (78), defenseman Morgan Rielly (44), forward Dryden Hunt (20) and forward Pierre Engvall (47) celebrate a goal by forward Pontus Holmberg (29) against the Detroit Red Wings during the third period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 7, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman TJ Brodie (78), defenseman Morgan Rielly (44), forward Dryden Hunt (20) and forward Pierre Engvall (47) celebrate a goal by forward Pontus Holmberg (29) against the Detroit Red Wings during the third period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have played 43 games so far this season, they are nine points behind Boston, and have a six point lead on the third-place Lightning.

It’s been a good year for the Leafs so far, who don’t really haver anything left to prove in the regular season.

For the first 30 games of the Toronto Maple Leafs season, I broke it down into three ten game segments.

The first ten were a little shaky, starting with a loss on opening night to the hated Montreal Canadiens, and exasperated by an injury to one of their newly signed goaltenders, Matt Murray. With only 4 wins in the first ten games Leafs Nation was reeling and calling for everyone’s head, Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe need to be fired, Mitch Marner and William Nylander need to be traded, or the whole thing needed to be stripped down and start the “dishonour for Connor” season.

Toronto Maple Leafs Ten Game Segments:

First ten games: 4-4-2
Games 11-20: 6-1-3
Games 21-30: 9-0-1
Games 31-41: 6-4-1
Overall record: 25-9-7

Fortunately, the  Leafs got it back on the rails and had an incredible run from games 11 to 30, going 15-1-4 over that stretch, getting 34 of a possible 40 points in the standings.

As we all know, winning cures all that ails you, and the fan base quieted down, and it was nothing but love for all.

The goaltending duo of Ilya Samsonov and Murray, which was being called a disaster before either even hit the ice, was shining bright and not only keeping the Maple Leafs in every game, but winning games for the team. Injuries that ravaged the blue line in this stretch, and the forwards stepped up in a big way to help the entire team play a structured game focused on preventing scoring chances.

The last 11 games the goaltending has deviated a bit towards the mean so the results have not been great but they have been fairly steady.

6-4-1 with a couple of close losses leaves the Maple Leafs still at the top of the NHL standings. Oddly enough, this mediocre streak coincided with Morgan Reilly returning to the lineup, causing some to call for Reilly to be vanquished from the team, but this is just a coincidence. The season will have its ups and downs, and Morgan Reilly will have a big part in where the Maple Leafs end up at the end of the season.

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